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Look out . . . Take cover!
Incoming information!
And it’s more than you can handle. More than anyone can handle.
We’re being bombarded with information because of the accelerating rate of technology development and the availability of information. We’re receiving information in a logarithmically accelerating manner — so much so that we can’t handle it.
That is, we can’t read it all, hear it all, absorb it all and do anything with most of it. That results in frustration, fatigue and confusion. Not to mention tired eyes.
So stop the bombs . . . and only you can do so!
Dr. Janice Dorn, psychiatrist, futurist and brain specialist, said recently, “Our task as human beings is to sort out what is really signal and what is really noise.” In other words, seek out the information that you can use and ignore the rest of it — it’s a distraction.
“One of the problems that people have is that they’re bandied about by just too much information. So they feel they have no control because they’re allowing too much information to come into them,” continued Dr. Dorn.
Having worked with hundreds of franchisees in recent years, I know how often they feel overwhelmed by conflicting information. And how much time they waste in indecision. “Our franchisor told us to do this . . . but then one of the top franchisees said do it this way. . . . What are we to do?”
Franchisors aren’t immune to the bombardment. Get half a dozen of them in the same room and ask them a question and you may get six (or more) answers . . . but you may not get an answer that will work for you. Some of those answers are just noise. Franchisors know it, too, because many of them don’t hit their goals and they can blame time wasted on noise (including some of it that comes from franchisees).
Nothing bombards worse than e-mail. Unless you’re really disciplined, you can spend hours reading it, deleting it, and answering it. Toss in social networking and you’ve lost a day!
So turn it off. Right now. Reserve blocks of time for accepting information, i.e. first thing in the morning and last thing before you leave the office. Only look at information that you need (unless you just want to be entertained), and information that comes from sources that you trust–those are sources that provide signals, not noise. Signals can be turned into revenue; noise merely distracts.
Once you start blocking the noise you’ll not only feel better, you’ll hit more of your goals and generate more revenue.
Photo by Mark Watson
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